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The planned rehash of 1968 sci-fi romp Barbarella is no more - thanks to German intervention.

Sin City helmsman Robert Rodriguez revealed in 2007 that he intended to breathe new life into the heroine and introduce her to "a new generation of moviegoers".

This caused a certain amount of dismay, especially among those who believe that Hollywood is currently crawling agonisingly through a cinematic desert, in search of new ideas.

Well, Barbarella is one classic which will be spared "reinvention". Universal originally backed the project, but the studio got cold feet after the budget swelled to an estimated $80m.

Enter the Germans, as Rodriguez explained earlier this week to MTV News: “It came to the point where [a company from] Germany offered us a $70m budget, which would have been by far the biggest budget I ever would have had for a movie."

More than enough cash, you'd think, to explore the "limitless possibilities" of the "ultimate science-fiction adventure heroine", as the director enthused in 2007.

However, there was one small snag. Rodriguez continued: “But I had to shoot it in Germany and post it in Germany. Nothing against Germany, but I have five kids and I was like, ‘God, I don’t know if we can do that. I don’t know if I can be away that long.’”

Bless. Rodriguez lamented: “It was a real bummer. We had all this artwork and screen tests of what it would look like. It was a really cool, R-rated, sexy version of a Star Wars movie... it was gonna be really great.”

Oh well. Rodriguez said he planned to release said artwork "one day" so that sceptics would see just how cool and sexy the film would have been. He concluded: “People said, ‘Why are you doing Barbarella?' And I showed them the artwork and explained it. They would go, ‘Ooooh, okay!’” ®